Looking at the detail
There is so much that the naked eye just can't see and as a result, we tend to make ambiguous assumptions about what is actually there. Lately I’ve been focusing on the tiny details brought to life through a macro lens fitted onto my phone. Specifically, I’m looking...
The power of visual thinking
Using Powerpoint to make sense of conflicting thoughts might sound really counter intuitive to an artist but when seen alongside your sketchbook and a hand drawn mindmap, it can go a long way in revealing where you’re really at with your studio work. It all started...
Look again at the humble sketchbook
If my studio went up in flames, what would I grab first? Without question - my big black sketchbooks. I began using this kind of sketchbook in the early 2000s and they contain what feels like the most significant stages of my creative career. A3 size, black,...
Avoiding gatekeepers and forging a new path for your creative self
If I might begin where I left off in my last post: ‘After a lifetime of following the prescriptive pathway of an artist, my inclination is now to diverge from this and forge my own path’, I’d like to share a few emerging reflections and images. I mentioned that I’m...
What closeups in photography reveal
Spoiler alert – I’m not very patient when photographing my artwork up close. But I’m really interested in seeing what the camera reveals so am doing it over a period of time, allowing a breathing space for reflection. Once again I see that one of the best advantages...
Seeing things from a fresh perspective in the studio
One of the best things about going away is coming back and seeing things from a fresh perspective. I’ve had a short break away from the familiar day to day events and on coming back into my new look studio, what struck me most is its clean brightness and how...
Re-organising the studio: much more than just moving stuff around
As I emptied the studio, I’d been thinking of an empty white space, the opposite to what it had been up to a few weeks ago. How would it feel to just sit there and see nothing at all? No clutter, no overwhelming sense of gloom. Would it really re-boot my creativity?...
Will re-organising my studio also reboot my creative thinking?
I’m really hoping that by reorganizing my studio it will also reboot my creative thinking. Why? Well because I feel as if I’ve been in a cozy rut for too long. Within my studio space I’m cosseted by my favourite work, all created over the past ten or so years....
Exploring dissonance
For the past few months I’ve been thinking about the ways in which dissonance is an underlying factor in my work. I’m particularly drawn to the notion of tension between disparate materials and processes and how their interaction can determine the direction the work...
Dealing with ‘the void’
Recently I read a Facebook post by an artist, an older woman, where she writes of her despair when faced with what she calls ‘the void’, where she feels she ‘has no sense of skill to fall back on, no accumulated sense of accomplishment’.[1] Writers would call it the...